Saving my friend Eugene
by James Barker
Summary: After Eugene takes his own life, a grief stricken Arnold finds a means to travel time and prevent the incident...but at what cost? Find out in this dark and sinister story of angst and tragedy.


A project I thought of while working on my other stories. I was inspired by the Pearl Jam song Jeremy when making this one. Please read and enjoy.

Warning: Contains scenes of sadistic violence, extreme scenes of cruelty and abuse, graphic language, strong sexual themes, explicit use of drugs and alcohol. Not to be read by anyone under 17.

James Barker presents

Saving my friend Eugene

Chapter 1: Endless Nightmares

It had been so long ago but stuck in Arnold's mind like a tic that refused to leave the skin. He could still feel Eugene's blood splattered on his skin and rubbed hastily and insanely to get the feeling of dread off of his being. But most of all he couldn't help feeling that he could have done something, anything that could have stopped his friend from taking his own life. But how? How could he have known that Eugene was so troubled that he did it. Eugene had always been so quiet in his final days.

And in a rush, all the painful memories flooded back into Arnold's mind like a bad dream. A dream that would never let him forget.

It had been a breezy day in the middle of the fall when it all happened. Leaves of various colors fell outside as Eugene sat at his desk in the back of the room as Harold and others glared cruelly at him. Arnold couldn't help but feel sorry for him and made up his mind to talk to him after school and cheer him up. "Okay students. Who can tell me the capital of Texas? Anyone? How about you, Eugene?" Mr. Simmons asked which caused Eugene to grimace darkly.

"Austin," the red haired boy answered coldly which caused all but Arnold to laugh and point at him.

Harold was the worse. He had been riding Eugene harder than usual lately which lead to insults and then to Eugene being beaten before his peers. "Hey everyone! Eugene spoke in class today! Ha ha ha!" Eugene turned away as his face began to redden and tears slowly found their way down his cheeks. "Everyone toss something at the little fucker!" Paper balls, erasers, even sharpened pencils were flung landing their mark causing bruises and cuts to form on his arms and neck.

Simmons slammed his fist on the desk causing all the students to turn their attention to him. "Alright now cut that out!" he yelled causing even Harold to wince a bit. "I see any of you throw another thing at that boy and I swear to fucking god you'll be expelled!" Eugene still had his back turned, whimpering, shaking, crying. "Eugene? Eugene, are you alright?"

Suddenly, he stopped moving as if nothing had happened to him and turned his tear covered face to his teacher. "I wanna be excused to use the restroom...now." Simmons nodded him a yes and Eugene slowly began to move to the door. Harold giggled a bit as his victim limped to the door but was quickly and quietly silenced by a stern glare from the teacher.

Ten minutes passed as everyone waited for their classmate to return to class. Arnold felt as if something was wrong. Where was he? "Mr. Simmons, can I be excused..." his words were cut off as a silent and much different Eugene entered the room and stood before the class. "Eugene...?"

Even this disturbed Simmons and he rose to see what was wrong with his student. "Eugene...are you okay? Do you wanna talk about what's wrong?" Eugene just stood there staring emptily at his classmates when suddenly he reached into his pocket and pulled out a gun startling everyone. "Eugene! Please...put the gun down. Don't do anything crazy!"

Eugene just shook his head as tears rolled down his face once more. "No...no...no more...just stop it!" After those words, he put the barrel of the .357 magnum revolver into his mouth causing everyone to gasp in fear. Arnold slowly got up and began to walk toward his friend to try to reason with him.

"Eugene, please...don't do this. This isn't worth throwing your life away. Eugene..." Eugene trembled violently as new tears began to form and urine began to stain his shorts and run down his leg. Then he pulled the trigger. "EUGENE!" Time seemed to slow down, it all happened so fast, and all Arnold could see was a cloud of red where Eugene's mouth should have been. The sound of a body hitting the ground, frightened cries and screams, the bang, all flooded Arnold's head as he felt something wet hit his skin.

Arnold found himself on his knees next to Eugene's dead body as a pool of blood began to form from his head. Arnold looked down to see his hands and everything else stained crimson and in that moment his felt a terrible screaming in the back of his mind. He looked around to see his classmates screaming and crying as they too were covered in their victim's blood. Arnold began to feel faint with the last things he remembered before blacking out being the images of Eugene's limp body and his blood splattered against the blackboard.

Freeing himself from the awful memories, Arnold looked down at the tombstone and crying as he did: HERE LIES EUGENE. A WONDERFUL SON AND GOOD FRIEND TO ALL." Arnold felt a deep hatred grow as he saw that someone had spray painted cruel words on the stone: R.I.P. YOU LITTLE SHIT! BURN IN HELL!" Arnold turned his back and walked away after laying some flowers on the grave. He stopped in his tracks when his foot hit something solid and round. Bending down he realized it was a large crystal ball attached to a silver base.

"What the hell is this?" the football headed boy asked himself as he picked it up and examined it more closely. Upon touching it, he saw images begin to form in the globe and it shocked him to see what it showed: it was the incident, the very incident he had remembered a few minutes back. "But...but how?" He began to remember a day at school two days before the incident and it appeared in the glowing sphere. Then he noticed something on the base. It looked like a stone button with unusual writing on it that he didn't understand.

Curiosity burned within him and consumed him entirely causing him to push it. To his horror, the world around him seemed to shift and distort until it was nothing but a bright red tunnel like vortex. Arnold tried to fight it at first but was quickly overwhelmed by a strange sensation that seemed to cover his body. It felt as though he wasn't in his body anymore but somewhere else. "Am I going to die?" he thought to himself as he drifted into darkness when he soon found himself on solid ground.

Opening his eyes, Arnold found himself in his school on a rather fair day in fall. "What? I'm at the school? But...but..." he was brought out of his thoughts as Helga pushed him out of her way. "Hey what are you...? Helga?"

The girl looked at him in disgust as she carried a bundle of books under her arm. "Watch where you're going, Football Head! I need to get this shit to class or I'm in deep trouble!" Arnold didn't understand. Helga wasn't in shock or looked disturbed like she had been after Eugene shot himself. She just looked like...well, normal.

Arnold shook his head and finally got himself composed enough to get some answers. "Where's Eugene, Helga? I gotta know!"

Sighing, Helga pointed a finger and said with spite, "He's over by the blacktop with some others. Jeez, what's wrong with you?"

In shock, Arnold looked over to see his friend Eugene alive and well. "Oh my god. Helga, what day is it?"

Rubbing her forehead, she answered, "October twenty-third."

Arnold backed off a bit trying to comprehend what was happening. "October twenty-three? Dear god..." he said quietly as realized he was there, two days before Eugene would take his own life. He had gone back back in time...

To be continued...

Hope you like the first chapter. It gets even stranger and darker later. R&R and I'll see you next time.


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